Roulette History

Roulette, as you may have guessed by its name, originated in France in the 18th century. However, a very primitive version of the game was seen in the 17th century which was introduced by a man named Blaise Pascal. This version laid the basic groundwork for the game we know and love today.

Roulette wheel is said to be a fusion of English wheel games Roly-Poly, Reiner, Ace of Hearts, and E.O, along with two Italian board games and a French game already using the Roulette name in its title. In its current forum, the earliest known game of roulette was played in 1796 in Paris. It was described in a novel by Jaques Lablee entitled La Roulette, ou le jour. In this book, Lablee breaks down how the two “zero” slots comprise the spaces allotted to the bank which account for the bank’s sole mathematical advantage over the player. People were taken aback by the intrigue that the game possessed.

In the early 1800’s, roulette spread like wildfire throughout the USA and Europe, quickly becoming one of the most popular and well known casino games. In Germany, the competition between casinos became so fierce that a pair of French brothers named Franco and Louis Blanc came up with an idea: They would reduce roulette’s advantage to the house by removing a “zero”, and introducing a wheel with only one. This gave their casino a competitive edge against other casinos throughout Germany.

However, the German government abolished gambling in the 1860s, which led the Blanc family to move to the only legal casino operation remaining in Europe. where they established a gambling empire for the European elite. This all took place in Monte Carlo, where the single zero wheel became the game of choice throughout the Western world. The USA was the exception, as there the double zero wheel was (and still is) dominating the market.

Generally, it is only in the USA, Canada, the Caribbean, and South America where you will still find the double zero wheel.In the number ranges from 1-10 and 19-28, odd numbers are red, and even are black. In the ranges 11-18 and 29-36, odd numbers are black, and even are red. The zero slot(s) is green. Both zero and double zero wheels generally use green for zero slots. However, there is a difference to how the wheels are laid out. Below are the clockwise number sequences for each wheel:

Single Zero Wheel: 0-32-15-19-4-21-2-25-17-34-6-27-13-36-11-30-8-23-19-5-24-16-33-1-20-14-31-9-22-18-29-7-28-12-35-3-26

Double Zero Wheel: 0-28-9-26-30-11-7-20-32-17-5-22-34-15-3-24-36-13-1-00-27-10-25-29-12-8-19-31-18-6-21-33-16-4-23-35-14-2

In the UK, the rules of “zero” spins are even more player friendly. Bets placed on the very outside (Black/Red, Odd/Even, First/Last 18) only lose half the stake as opposed to all of it as is the rule virtually everywhere else. Due to these player friendly aspects of the game, Roulette tends to be much more popular in Europe than it is in North America, but regardless of the rules, roulette is as entertaining as it gets when it comes to casino games.